{Eyes}

I LOVE the topic of this Joy Of Love assignment. Simply get a crisp shot of your loved one's eyes, as they are "the window to the soul". If I'm being very honest, I have to say that I think my kids all have gorgeous eyes. I could stare at them for hours. My goal was to get a photo of all three kids together looking straight at the camera. But I rarely get the photo I see in my head, and that was the case today. By the time I was ready to take the photo Dixon was napping in bed and I was losing my best daylight. So instead, I took inidividual photos of Sasha and Clara.

Here is the photo I selected to use for the assignment:

This photo may not appeal to everyone, but I love it. I love that it isn't your typical, full-face photo. The crop makes it different and, I think, interesting. And more importantly, I LOVE how it captured Sasha's gorgeous blue-green eyes.

When Sasha was born she had intensely blue eyes. They almost look fake in some of the photos I have of her as a toddler because they are so incredibly blue. Then when she was about three or four years old they suddenly became more green. Now they are more green than blue, but they change depending on what she is wearing. Mysterious eyes, she has.

I also think she looks a LOT like her daddy in this photo. A LOT lot. The eyes, the eyebrows (those suckers will be waxed the moment she becomes self-conscious of them), the nose, the mouth . . . this little girl is her daddy through and through.

I love her.

{Dreams}

What are the dreams of our loved ones? That is the topic of the next Joy Of Love photography assignment. I believe it took me all of a nanosecond to come up with an answer. In fact, I could fill a book with photos of our dreams as we are a family of goal-setters and dreamers. For this project I chose the dream that our entire family shares.

It has been almost three years since Cory and I took our princesses - then 4 and 2 years old - to Disney World. And to this day, we all agree that that was the best week of our lives. Sasha and Clara were in little girl heaven, completely caught up in the magic of Disney. And Cory and I were in our own heaven watching the joy on our girls' faces. It was a perfect week. So one of our family's dreams is to go back to Disney World. We talk about it all the time. If it weren't so darn expensive, we'd take a trip there every year. Unfortunately, we have to be financially responsible and that means waiting until we can comfortably afford to go the House of the Mouse.

When we planned our trip three years ago, the girls and I made a big paper chain to count down the days until we hopped on the plane to head south. We hung the chain - which was quite long since we counted down about 75 days - from a hook on the attic door which happens to be in their bedroom. Every day the girls took turns tearing off a link. It was so exciting to see the chain get smaller, especially as we got closer to the big day! When that day came I couldn't bear to tear off that last link. We had so much fun using the chain and it represented such wonderful anticipation that I didn't want to take it down. It remains there today!

Hopefully we will be able to return to land of magic soon. I'd love to go before Dixon turns three since kids stay, play and eat free if they are under three. He turns two in April, so the countdown will soon be on! This time I think Cory and I will surprise the kids with the trip. Kind of like the commercials on tv that show the parents telling their kids that they are going to go to Disney World that day and the kids jump up and down screaming with excitement. I always cry at those commercials! We can't wait to make our dream come true and feel the magic of Disney within us again!

*This photo is rather, um, yucky. I had to use my flash because there was no light in the room, and that resulted in horrible shadows and glare. I'm certainly not posting the photo because it's a great shot - it's simply to document the dream!

{Space: Where They Are Comfortable}

Clearly this assignment threw me, since I am two days late posting my photo. Spaces. Where does my loved one feel comfortable? Hmmm . . . .

Honestly, I can't think of a single spot in our home that one of us just gravitates to regularly. At least not for comfort. The girls are always either on the floor drawing or in their bedroom playing with dolls. Cory and I are often on our computers. And Dixon just runs around all over the place. None of us just lounge around and get cozy or have a special spot that is all ours.

So I had to really think about this one. Here's what I came up with:

Our puppies (well, they're not really puppies anymore, but that's what I call them) love - LOVE - to sleep on our couch. I can't blame them. It's really comfy. We keep them in a crate at night and when one one is home and they hate the crate, so when they are out they want to snuggle in comfort. The couch is their spot.

Sometimes they will sleep on the cushions, but usually they are on top of the corner of the couch. I have a Tastefully Simple blanket folded there that is super soft and they love it there.


This spot is also a favorite of theirs because they can see out the big windows when perched here. Fiki, the dog we had before these two entered our lives, loved to sit and sleep here too for that very reason. It's a great vantage point for keeping watch of what is going on outside of the house.

Our pups are almost always together, too. They are from the same litter and are inseperable. This photo of Perdy by herself is rather rare, but I can assure you that Jasmine is right below her on the cushions. Nice and comfy. What lucky dogs.

{Passions and Hobbies}

Nice lookin' rear end, huh? Today's Joy Of Love photography assignment is to photograph a passion or hobby of your loved one. My kids have tons of hobbies: they draw, they play with Barbies and American Girls, they dance and do gymnastics, they read, they watch tv, and Sasha is a Girl Scout. I don't think I've ever heard them say they are bored. Ever.

But I wanted to focus on Cory today. He often comments that I have lots of hobbies but all he does is work. Sadly, that isn't too much of a stretch of the truth. He has hobbies, but he doesn't have much time to enjoy them. However, there is one activity that he truly loves and tries to do as often as possible. My man is a proud owner of a 1969 Mach 1 Ford Mustang, and there isn't much he'd rather do than tinker with it and take it for a spin. When the weather is warm and sunny and Cory doesn't have any obligations, he can be found in the garage fixing up his car or washing it in the driveway before heading out for a drive. The girls LOVE to go for rides in "Daddy's fast car" and he's happy to take them with him. They often find an ice cream shoppe and enjoy a cool treat before coming home. And as obsessed as Dixon is with anything that has wheels, I am quite conident that he will take on Daddy's passion for the pony and be by his side in the garage on many warm summer evenings.

{Gift From the Heart}

We are eight days into the Joy Of Love online photography class . . . and I'm already a day behind. :( Yesterday's assignment was Generations - take a photo to represent generations of your family. I had planned to get a photo of my kids with my mother on Sunday, but I forgot to bring my camera to the Superbowl party we were at. So that day will have to wait.

Today's assignment was to photograph the best gift your loved one has given you. I knew immediately what my best gift was (really, is): through Cory's hard work and total belief in the importance of raising our children ourselves, I have been able to be a stay-at-home-mom since the day Sasha was born almost 7 and a half years ago. I haven't missed a single milestone, a single silly moment, or a single opportunity to snuggle, play, and learn together. There is no better gift on earth than enjoying the formative years with your children.

Now, how do I photograph this gift? I thought about it all morning and finally figured it out this afternoon. When Cory and I were newlyweds we lived in southern Virginia. He was in veterinarian school at Virginia Tech and I was supporting us by teaching and waitressing at a Cracker Barrell. I made next to nothing. Teaching salaries get worse and worse the further south you go, and this was 1999. I believe I made $27,000 a year teaching. The waitressing was an absolute necessity to keep us afloat.

Long story short, I spent many, many days in my classroom dreaming about the day I could sit at home with my then unborn little girls watching Cinderella. Instead of trying to teach all those 8th graders how to write an essay, I wanted to be snuggling with my own children, sniffing their hair and getting lost in the magic of Disney with them. Being a mom has always been my dream and I could hardly wait to start a family.

So while it may be a bit odd, this photo captures my dream coming true. I've now watched Cinderella - and shelves full of other Disney and Barbie movies - with my little girls countless times. It never gets old. Sometimes I'll put a movie on for them to watch so I can do things around the house, but I always seem to end up on the couch with them, totally taken in by the same stories I've seen so many times before. This wouldn't be possible if it weren't for Cory and his support. He has given me my ultimate dream and I'll be grateful for him and his gift.

Now for the photography lesson. Today we were supposed to use our camera in FULL manual mode. I didn't realize this until after I took the photo, though. So I'll have to read the instructions more carefully for tomorrow and play around with my camera a bit more. Going fully manual scares me a tad, but I'm excited to give it a shot!

{Who THEY Love}

As soon as I read the topic of today's Joy Of Love photography assignment I knew what I would do. Our task was to photograph someone or something that our loved one(s) love. Well, my girls are always taking about how much they love God. They think He is the greatest artist in the whole world, especially when they see a particularly gorgeous sunset. At the tender ages of 7 and 5, they know many of the stories of the Bible. In fact, when we read stories before bed they often want to read from one of their many childrens Bibles. They love the stories and learning more about who God is. One of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard is when one of them begins to pray all on her own - their little conversations with God are so pure and honest and they aren't at all embarrassed to speak to Him about what is on their hearts and minds.

Even though they don't know or understand much of God's word - who does, really? - they know that God loves them and is offering them eternal life in heaven. They know He is our Father and all good things come through Him. And as they get older they will discover just how deep God's love is, and they will love Him even more. What a beautiful thing.

{Love To Hate}

What an intresting topic for our next Joy Of Love assignment! On Saturday we were challenged to think about something our loved one does that we simply can't stand. Something that annoys us to no end. Then we had to find a way to record that annoying habit.

Of course the first person I thought about was my dear husband. Because although I do love him, he has some habits that absolutely drive me up a wall. But his habits are kind of hard to capture on film. For example, he likes to make weird noises because the kids laugh, but I find it grating after hearing it a hundred times. And he knows it bugs me, so he does it all the more. What a sweetheart. ;)

But both Cory and I become highly, HIGHLY annoyed on an almost daily basis by one of our amazingly adorable children. It may be hard to believe that our little cherub-faced Clara could find a way to drive us nuts - sometimes to the point where yelling and tears ensue - but she does. And this is how.

Clara is a talker. Clara is also easily distracted. And finally, Clara doesn't care much about eating food. Put those three things together and you have a child who makes dinnertime a not-so-fun experience. We sit down to eat and all she wants to do is drink her milk, chatter about nothing, sing songs, or get up and show us a dance move. We find ourselves constantly saying, "Clara, put the milk down." "Clara, take a bite." "Clara, stop singing." "Clara, EAT!!!" Many times she ends up alone at the dinner table because everyone else has finished eating and she still has a full plate of food. It is beyond frustrating, especially if we have someplace to go in the evening.

This morning Cory made pancakes for breakfast so it was a bit difficult to capture Clara's typical distracted behaviour. Pancakes are one of her favorite foods and she gobbles them up without much prompting. But that look on her face - that ornery, "I have something to say" look - says it all. When it comes to mealtime manners, a princess Clara is not.

Flaws like this are a part of what makes us human and loveable, though. As the saying goes, Clara is not perfect, but she is perfect for us. And we love her completely . . . even during dinner.